[b] A massive and malevolent porcine creature, Ganon first appeared in the original The Legend of Zelda game in 1986, while his alter ego, Ganondorf, was introduced in Ocarina of Time.

He is the archenemy of the protagonist Link and Princess Zelda of Hyrule and originally the leader of the Gerudo, a race of humanoid desert nomads before becoming the ruler of his demon army.

Ganon was conceived as the antagonist of The Legend of Zelda video game by Shigeru Miyamoto working alongside Takashi Tezuka.

However, script director Toru Osawa thought that Ganondorf should have "parts where he is rather good", comparing him to the character of Raoh in Fist of the North Star.

Since Ganon had appeared earlier as a boar-like creature, Takizawa decided that Ganondorf should transform into such at the end of the game and wanted to consult Shigeru Miyamoto on this, but realised that he had no opinion on the matter.

[7] Following the release of Tears of the Kingdom, the game's director Hidemaro Fujibayashi said that he had approached Ganondorf as a main character due to his long history in the series.

Artist Yuki Hamada explained that his enormous size was due to the team wanting the game to end in the vast open plain of Hyrule Field.

[23] In the English dub of Tears of the Kingdom, he is voiced by Matthew Mercer, who unofficially portrayed the character in the live action web series There Will Be Brawl.

[24] Throughout the series, Ganon has been characterised as the embodiment of evil and is placed in direct opposition to the protagonist Link and Princess Zelda across multiple generations in the fictional timeline.

His destructive influence is illustrated in Ocarina of Time, when Link awakens from a seven-year sleep to discover Hyrule transformed from a peaceful kingdom to a place of fear shrouded in darkness following Ganondorf's rise to power.

This struggle for control of the Triforce has been a central aspect of several games, such as Ocarina of Time, and binds the three main characters in an eternal battle across the fictional Zelda timeline.

[38] He reinstates his influence over the land of Hyrule in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom by conjuring a Blood Moon, which resurrects fallen monsters.

[39][40] Ganon made his first appearance in the original NES video game The Legend of Zelda in 1986 in the form of a blue monstrous pig.

[43] Ocarina of Time, which was released for the Nintendo 64, introduced the character in his humanoid form as Ganondorf, the king of the Gerudo thieves, expanding upon the backstory in A Link to the Past.

He kidnaps multiple young girls with pointed ears in order to find Zelda so he can complete the Triforce and take over Hyrule, including Link's sister Aryll.

However, Ganon is revealed to be the true villain who stole a powerful magical trident and Dark Mirror to create the evil version of Link.

[49] In the backstory, he returns from an earlier defeat to take control of an army of Guardian robots, which he uses against the Hyruleans with the aim of destroying Hyrule.

[52] He is reawakened in the present when Link and Zelda investigate the depths of Hyrule Castle and, in the confrontation, his power breaks the Master Sword.

[53] In the final boss fight, which takes place deep in the chasm beneath Hyrule Castle, he regenerates into his Demon King form.

The game was released by Epoch Co. and involves scanning barcodes to battle enemies on cards with a story based on A Link to the Past.

[64] As one of the bosses of Ultimate, he takes the form of Demon King Ganon, wielding two swords and combining his attacks with dark magic.

[68] Ganon can be summoned into a player's village in Animal Crossing: New Leaf by scanning a compatible amiibo that was released for the 30th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda series.

In the Ocarina of Time manga, which was originally published in two volumes and written by Akira Himekawa, the storyline provides additional details to the game's plot in which Link defeats Ganondorf and restores peace to Hyrule.

[84] Jay Castello, writing for Polygon, considered Ganondorf's depiction as an evil character who originates from the desert to have racist undertones that have underpinned his backstory throughout the series.

[88] Ollie Reynolds of Nintendo Life considered Ganondorf's introduction in Ocarina of Time to be one of the best in gaming and said that, despite being on screen for just a few seconds, his entrance is so well crafted it immediately creates trepidation.

[90] Jose Oteru of IGN praised Ganondorf's Wind Waker design, noting its samurai-esque and Eastern influences and describing it as a "visual foil to all of the pirates and sea-driven art direction".

[91] Oli Welsh, writing for Eurogamer, said that the dialogue in the final scenes of The Wind Waker expresses Ganondorf's motivations and results in a more human villain to which players can more easily relate.

[93] Anticipation grew for the return of Ganondorf with the release of the third trailer for Tears of the Kingdom in April 2023, due to him being absent for almost 17 years since Twilight Princess.

[94][95] This incarnation of Ganondorf received widespread praise for his sex appeal,[96][95] with Jenni Lada of Siliconera commenting that this added more mystery to the character by making him appear "charismatic and charming" rather than just an evil villain.

[48] Marco Vito Oddo of Collider also considered this as the best Ganondorf duel and compared it to the final boss battle in Breath of the Wild, which he described as "another giant blob of dark energy that fights just like every other Ganon Blight the player already fought and defeated" and "an unsatisfactory ending to a fantastic game".